A Brief Tutorial on Marching Band Scoring and Awards

For somebody new to the competition marching band scene, precisely what makes up a band's score may be a mystery. Focusing on the Ohio Music Education Association's scoring guidelines, this overview attempts to take some of that mystery out of the scores.

OMEA rates bands on a five rating scale in several different categories.   These ratings are as follows:

I - Superior - An outstanding performance with very few technical errors and exemplifying a truly musical expression.  This should be reserved for the truly outstanding performance.
II - Excellent - An unusual performance in many respects, but not worthy of the highest rating due to minor defects in performance, ineffective interpretation, or improper instrumentation.
III - Good - An acceptable performance, but not outstanding.  Showing marked promise, but lacking in one or more essential qualities.
IV - Fair - A poor performance showing many technical errors, poor musical conception, lack of interpretation, incomplete instrumentation, or lacking in any of the other essential qualities.
V - Poor - A very poor performance indicating deficiencies in most of the essential factors and indicating that much careful attention should be given to fundamentals of good performance.  This rating should be used sparingly and only when it is possible to cite major faults.
This explanation taken from the OMEA 1997 State Marching Band Finals program.

At each OMEA competition, there are generally 7 adjudicators that judge different aspects of a band's performance to determine the band's overall placement. In the categories of Music, Marching, and General Effect, there are two judges each. The seventh judge focuses on the percussion. Each of these judges will assign a number of points to the aspect of the performance that they are judging. These scores will each fall into a range which will determine the rating of the score.

For example, if one of the music judges gave a band a score of 83, this score falls within the Superior (I) range. However, if the other marching judge scored the band at a 71, then the score falls within the Excellent (II) range.

To find a band's overall rating, the band must receive a majority (4 out of 7 or better) of Superior Rating scores from each of the judges. If a band receives an overall Superior Rating, the band qualifies for OMEA State Finals competition.

Other aspects of a band's performance are sometimes judged as well. Commonly, the auxiliary (color guard, rifles , sabers, etc.) will be judged by two judges separately from the core seven. Field Commanders, although as of late this practice is dwindling, are also often judged separately, generally by one judge.

To find a band's placement at a competition, usually each of the scores from the individual judges are added together to get a total score within a 300 point range. Obviously, the higher the score, the higher the band will place. The separate auxiliary, field commander, or other separate scores are usually not added on top of this number, as it is assumed that they are also covered by the General Effect scores. However, rarely these scores are factored into the final score, which can lead to controversy.

For instance, in 1998 at the Ironton High School Competition, Portsmouth East won the Grand Champion award, only after the auxiliary and field commander scores were added into the final score. If only the seven core scores had been factored into the final placement, Spring Valley would have had the highest score at the competition.

Some competitions, and also the OMEA State Finals, only give out ratings and not an overall score. In the case of State Finals, judges use a questionnaire style sheet to give a rating to different aspects of the band's performance within that caption.

For example, within the Music caption, one amongst many of the aspects that a judge will rate the band on is intonation.

The band's final rating in a caption is seemingly determined by a combination of the average rating of each of the aspects, and judges discretion.

The word "seemingly" is used because at the 1996 OMEA State Finals, Portsmouth East received an Excellent (II) rating from one of the General Effect judges, regardless of the fact that a vast majority of the aspect ratings were listed as Superior (I) ratings. This cost the band an overall Superior (I) rating for the 1996 season.

In rare cases, an OMEA sanctioned event besides State Finals will use the ratings only system.

From 1993 to 1995, Ironton High School's competition had their judges simply give an overall rating to the band in each caption. This resulted in ties and conflict when a band with an identical rating as another was beaten by that band.

Class Division

In OMEA competition, bands are divided into 4 different classes, each dependent upon school enrollment in grades 10-12.  However, OMEA allows for younger students from within a school's district to participate in competitive high school marching band.

The classes are, from largest to smallest : AA, A, B , C

A band in a lower class may compete in a higher class, but a band in a higher class may not compete in a lower class.

For example, East, a class C school, often competes in Class AA competition.

Common Awards

The most common awards are band placement awards. Competing bands are given awards for placement within their class, and also for their placement regardless of class. Usually, the band that has the highest score regardless of class is considered the Grand Champion. Some discrepancy is often found from competition to competition regarding the overall second place band. Usually, that band is awarded a first runner-up award, but there are instances that the band is called the Reserved Grand Champion.

At most competitions, placement awards are usually given to the percussion, auxiliary, and field commander. Within a class, the top three bands in these aspects are usually given an award, but in overall competition, it is most common that only the best performance is given an award.

It is also common to see awards given for best scores within each major caption (Music, Marching, and General Effect). These are usually only given to the best score in overall competition (regardless of class), although they are rarely given within each class, and even more infrequently for the top three bands in each regard.

Less common (now that the music judges have complained) are soloist awards, given to the best instrumental soloist, usually out of the whole competition. This practice was once more common, but OMEA music judges objected to the extra burden placed upon them. As most band booster organizations can not afford superfluous judges, the soloist award is dwindling away in OMEA competition.

Outside of performance awards, there is often what is known as the booster award. This is given to the school that has the most supporters in paid attendance. This is almost always determined by attendees placing their ticket stubs into cans set up just within the gates.

Other Systems

Although exacting details may be different, most other judging schemes are based upon the same premise that OMEA uses. The 5 Rating system based on number scores is prevalent throughout the local area, as well as within national organizations, such as Bands of America (BOA). For what it's worth, East has not competed within a radically different system in recent memory.

Hopefully, this tutorial has helped to inform. A good understanding of the judging system is essential for the ability to respect fully what a band strives to develop through their many hours of hard work.